Various prior art devices are used to deform or crimp ferrules or other similar workpieces onto conductive wires or the like. A problem often encountered in the crimping art is the release of the workpiece from the crimping die after the workpiece has been deformed under compressive die forces. In general, this problem has been addressed and overcome by a number of devices such as that, for example, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,839 issued on Sept. 20, 1977 to Peterpaul and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,674 issued on Nov. 2, 1971 to Piasecki et al., both patents being assigned to the same assignee as is the present invention. In each of these devices the workpiece is supported by an anvil portion of the die set and then driven into an opposing die nest where it is deformed about conductive wires or the like. The die sets of each of these devices includes provision for assisting the release from the die nest upon disengagement of the die set members.
A difficulty with these devices, however, and other known devices wherein die members are normally spring biased apart to clear a workpiece, is the support of the workpiece in the die set prior to deformation. For example, in the devices of the two referenced patents an individual ferrule in a series of webbed ferrules is positioned on the anvil portion and held thereon by the rigidity of the webbed arrangement. No means is provided for effectively retaining a single piece entity in position on the anvil portion in a self-sustaining manner without external support means, manual or otherwise. While the use of the webbed ferrules is ideal for production purposes where crimping may be effected in rapid fashion, such die set structure is limited where individual, piecework applications, such as in maintenance or repair, are desired. While it is advantageous for a die set to have such ferrule retention capability, it is also desirable to crimp such ferrule without jamming in the die nest and to effect release of the crimped ferrule without excessive difficulty or labor.